Record display and advertising device



March 1960 A. w. SILVERSTEIN 2,927,796

RECORD DISPLAY AND-ADVERTISING DEVICE Filed Feb. 21, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7' SELECTIONS REJECT SPEAKER SELECTiJ-- PLAYER 1 AMPLIFIER INVENTOR. ABRAHAM W. SILVERSTEIN FIG fi ATTORNEY March 8, 1960 'A. w. SILVERSTEIN RECORD DISPLAY AND ADVERTISING mzvxca 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 21, 1955 FIG. 2

INVENTQR. ABRAHAM W. SILVERSTEEN mfm ATTORNEY RECORD DISPLAY AND ADVERTISING DEVICE" Abraham W. Silverstein, Akron, Ohio Application February 2 1, 1955, Serial No. 480,541

3 Claims. (Cl. 274-) This invention relates to a phonograph record display and advertising device. 7

In the merchandising of phonograph records, ithas been the customary practice to provide a prospective customer with a record of his choice after which the customer would retire to a booth or cubicle which is provided with a turntable in order that he might evaluate the merits of the record. If he found the record acceptable, he would then consult with the clerk who would accept payment for the record and package the same for the customer. Thus, every sale required a minimum of two contacts with the clerk and the customer received .a record that had been played one or more times. Because of the selective nature of record customers it has been quite common for the clerk to have as many as a dozen contacts with a customer before asale is consummated. Also, the merchandiser must allow for considerable breakage because the customers are handling the records prior to the purchase. These disadvantages'to the customary merchandising procedure are overcome by the practice of this invention because the customer never touches'the record until he has de-v cided on the purchase, the clerk has only'one contact with the customer and all records are unplayed when purchased. Thus, breakage and clerks time, two expensive items of overhead, are substantially reduced.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an improved combined merchandise display and advertising device which requires a minimum amount of attention. U I 1 Another object of this invention is to provide an improved combined record display and advertising device which will avoid the playing of each new record so that critical purchasers will be assured of obtaining unplayed records.

A further object of this-invention is to provide an improved combined record display and advertising device in which the merchandise is readily available to the customer and'is advantageously displayed.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved combined record display and advertising device which is compact in construction, pleasing to the eye. and economical and eflicient in use.

A further object to this invention is to provide a selfservice record display and advertising device which requires a minimum of attention from attendants.

These and other objects will be apparent as the description proceeds.

In the practice of this invention, a cabinet having a plurality of vertical bins or receptacles is provided wherein the bins or receptacles are exposed to view so that the records are always on display andrreadily available to the purchaser. Associated with thecabinet is a selection board containing the names of the records which are being displayed.

Combined with the selection panel and the display bins is a unitary selector-player having a turntable and sound pick-up, and having associated therewith an amplifier,

ice

,his choice Without handling the record or viewing the translation.

The invention will be more fully understood in conn'ec' tion with the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of; this invention with a portion thereof cut away to show a bin full of records and one, of thefselector-player circuits. V I Figure 2 is a cross section showing schematically the selections panel, the bins and the reproduction apparatus in relation to the cabinet, and

Figure 3 is a schematic drawing of the circuits showing a rotary switch having positions corresponding to the bins in Figure l and showing the selector-player circuits in coacting relation with a unitary selector-player, amplifier and speaker. v

Referring in particular to the drawings, a cabinet 10' is mounted on a base 11 and has an elevated selections panel board 12 secured to and projecting above the upper surface 98 of the cabinet. The cabinet 10 is comprised of four sides which are in the nature of vertical panels 100, 101, 102 and a fourth unexposed panel associated together as parallel pairs to enclose the mechanism ofreproduction, the wiring and the record bins. The upper surface 98 which is mounted at an inclined angle with the rear portion thereof slightly elevated so that the record bins and push buttons are available for ready access and easy use. The top surface 98 is parallel to the inclined transverse support 37 which may be attached to side panels 100 and 102 or may be suspended from the top surface panel 98.

The selections panel board 12 contains a plurality of spaces 13-32 adapted to receive song titles. The base 11 is provided with a conventional record selector-player 33 unitarily mounted on a transverse supporting mem ber 99 which is supported by the cabinet 10 and base 11.

The selector-player can be adaptable to play the s'tandard 78 rpm, the long playing 33 rpm, or 45 rpm. records, or may be in the nature of any other type of reproduction device suitable for actuation throughan electrical circuit. In connection with the operation of the record selector-player 33, an amplifier 34 and a speaker 33 for the support of a plurality of record bins 38-57, each of the bins containing a store of records corresponding to the listings on the selections panel board.

The bins 38-57 are mounted substantially vertically between the transverse supporting element 37 and the upper surface panel 98 and are adapted to hold a store of unplayed records for prospective purchasers. The

bin dividers may have partial elliptical segments removed from the upper portion in order to facilitate access to the records in the bins.

Selector push button switches 58-77 are mounted on the upper surface panel 98 of said cabinet 10 in integral relation with the corresponding bins and numbered according to the corresponding positions 13-32 on said selections panel board. Each of the selector push button switches is adapted to actuate one of the circuits through the record selector-player 33 which initiates the playing of the selected record, said record selector-player being supplied with power through the line 103.

For the purpose of simplicity the individually acting push button switches 58-77 of Figure 1 are shown dia- P fatenjted Mar. 8, I960 37 is secured tothe cabinet 10 in a plane above the record selector-player grammatically as a rotary switch 105 having contact player may be. utilized, although the. arrangement of Figure l is to bepreferred with regard to. simplicity and.

ease of operation.

Reject push button 104 can actuate the reject circuit 106 inorder to effect removal of any record. during the reproduction. Otherwise, thev record selector-player 33 is.

adapted to complete a, reproduction after which the. record isretnrned automatically to theproper storage space.

In the practice of this invention, it is. thuspossible. for a prospective record customer to select a record from the record selections panel and push the, selector push. button corresponding in. number to the record selected from the panel board and thus actuate the selector-player which in turn. reproduces the chosen. record through the amplifier and speaker, If the customer does not desire to listen. to the complete record, he can depress the. reject button: which in turn actuates the reject circuit, thus returningthe record to its normal position in the record rack of the selector-player. Thereafter, the customer can. select another record from the selections board and receive arcproduction by pushing the corresponding numbered. selector push button and reject the same prior to completion by depressing the reject button. This: cycle can be completed over and over again until. the customer has made his selections after which he can remove forpurchase unplayed packaged records from the display bins. Itv is therefore apparent that the record display and advertising device of this invention is readily adaptable to the merchandising of records through such outlets as grocery stores, drug stores, recreation halls and other places where people congregate With an absolute minimum of overhead due to breakage. and clerks time.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A record display and advertising device comprising in combination a cabinet having a numbered selections panel mounted thereon adapted for the retention of song titles and having aunitary selector-player contained therein adaptedfor the playing of the multiplicity of records,

said cabinet having a plurality of record bins formed by parallel vertical coextensivedividers, said bins being numbered to correspond to said numbered selections panel and having adjacent thereto numbered electrical player circuit actuating push buttons numbered to correspond to the numbers of said bins and said record selections panel, said buttons being capable of actuating a selector switch, said selector switch containing circuit stations corresponding to said numbered push buttons and being electrically coupled to said selector-player to connect the stations. of said selector switch and the corresponding record holder mounted in saidselector-player which holds records corresponding to the same numbers on. said record selections panel and said corresponding push buttons and a reject push button mounted on said cabinet connected to said selector switch adapted to interrupt a translation and return the record of translation to its position in the record rack, said selector-player containing translating means and having an amplifier and speaker associated therewith for reproducing the translations from records by said selector-player. V

2. A record display and-advertising device comprising in combination av cabinet having a numberedselections panel mounted thereon adapted for the retention of song titles and having a unitary selector-player contained therein. adapted for the playing of, a multiplicity of rec ords, said cabinet having a plurality of tiered record bins formed by parallel vertical coextensive dividers, said bins being numbered to correspond to said numbered selections panel and having adjacent thereto numbered electrical player circuit actuating push buttons numbered to correspond tothenumbers of said bins and said record selections panel, said buttons being capable of actuating a, selector switch, said selector switch containing circuit stations corresponding to said numbered push buttons. and being. electrically coupled to said. selector-player to connectthe stations of said selector switch and the corresponding record holder mounted in said selector-player which. holds recordsv corresponding to the same numbers on said record selections panel and said corresponding push buttons, said selector-player containing translating means and having an amplifier and speaker associated therewith for reproducing the translations from records by said selector-player, and said record, display and advertising device having a reject push, button mounted externallyon the cabinet adapted to actuate a. record replacingrneans in said. selector-player through a. reject circuitconnecting the reject push button and selectorplayer, afiording external control over said play back means to interrupt said translation.

3. An advertising and display device comprising in combination a base, a cabinet, a unitary record selectorplayer adapted for the playing of a multiplicityof records supported on said base, a supporting frame secured to said base and having a transverse element positioned in a plane above the record selector-player for supporting a plurality of record bins, said bins being an integral part of said cabinet and formed by vertical parallel coextensiye dividers, each of said bins having a, corresponding selector push button switch mounted on said cabinet adjacent to said bins for actuation of a corresponding station in the. said record selector-player in order to; actuate the translation of a selected record, said cabinet having a record reject button mounted thereon for actuation of a. record rejectv circuit connecting said reject button and said selector-player affording external control over the play back means to interrupt the. translation of the said record selector-player and a record advertising selections panel mounted on the backof said cabinet in substantially elevated relation to said cabinet.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,096,718 Hokanson Oct. 26, 193.7 2,375,043: Shalfer May l, 1945 2,631,856 Osborne Mar. 17., 1953 

